Iranian political prisoner holds up a "No to Death" sign outside Evin Prison after her release

Iranian political prisoner holds up a "No to Death" sign outside Evin Prison after her release

Iran International obtained a photo of Iranian political prisoner Maryam Yahyavi after her release from Evin Prison, holding a sign with the slogans "No to Death" and "Stop Death Sentences for Prisoners in All Crimes." Yahyavi was released on Sunday, February 9, after completing her one-year prison sentence in Evin Prison.

Yahavi also called for the death sentences of Bakhshan Azizi and Varesheh Moradi, two political prisoners who were imprisoned with her in the women's ward of Evin Prison, to be overturned. Yahyavi, who has been serving her one-year prison sentence in Evin Prison since March 3, wrote in a letter last August that the prisoners had pledged and vowed to resist and stand firm until the death sentence was overturned.

Iran International reported on February 6 that 27 political prisoners in the women’s ward of Evin Prison, including Yahyavi, had been denied visits for three weeks. According to reports from human rights organizations, there are currently at least 56 prisoners across Iran facing death sentences on political or security charges, including Azizi and Moradi.

Varishah Moradi was sentenced to death on November 10 by Judge Abolghasem Salavati, and Bakhshan Azizi was sentenced to death on July 23 by Judge Iman Afshari in the Revolutionary Court of Tehran on charges of “prostitution.” The confirmation of Azizi’s death sentence and the issuance of the death sentence against Moradi in the past weeks and months have sparked widespread protests domestically and internationally.

In the latest such reaction, the International Federation of Socialist Youth, made up of 163 organizations from around the world, called in a statement on February 9 to Iranian regime officials to immediately cancel the death sentence and unconditionally release Azizi. The statement said that Azizi, as a social worker, has dedicated nearly a decade of her life to supporting women and children displaced by the war in Syria.

The statement added, referring to the process of reviewing Azizi’s case in the Iranian judiciary, that the Supreme Court rejected their request to reconsider the case within just one day after registering the request for a retrial submitted by Azizi’s lawyers. Azizi’s lawyer, Amir Reyesian, warned on February 6 that his client was facing the risk of execution after the Supreme Court rejected the request for a retrial in her case.